The invention relates to a method and apparatus for conditioning bulk material containing vaporizable ingredients, the flow of the material being maintained by means of a vibrating plate conveyor and, in particular, to the material being treated in a heating section and a downstream drying section using an indirect heat exchange method.
Conditioning of bulk material is defined as a reduction of the vaporizable fractions (i.e. drying) and, if required, cooling of the hot material to the temperature permitted for dumping. The conditioning process is continuous. In the case of such processes and/or devices, it is indispensable that the specific material properties be considered for each process step in order to avoid disturbances.
West German patents DE- 849,226 and DE- 2,153,435, European patent EP- 0,030,947 and British patent GB- 857,250, for example, describe devices for conditioning bulk material, the heating being performed directly or indirectly. The known devices and the related processes are not universally suitable for many different materials because they have only been adapted to certain properties, the heat exchange capacity is low and the equipment requires a large space.